Hardwiring internet around home

[andypotter]

Hi all hopefully this is the right place for this.
I'm switching to gigafast broadband and thinking may as well get full use by putting Ethernet around the house.
Current set up BB enters in front room, have Ethernet cable running into living room, using power line adapters for 1 kids bedroom upstairs and 1 in the loft. Kids are constantly using 3 devices at a time each. Wife and I work from home and use zoom and teams mainly, I also stream all my TV on IPTV.

Now I've tried putting the plug on the end of a cat 6 cable before and it didn't work. I've read that writing to a socket is a lot easier. So I'm wanting to run at least 3 cables to sockets in different rooms. I don't want 3 different sockets though in the front room where internet comes in.

What are my options please

 

[RandomGrinch]

I've read that writing to a socket is a lot easier.

Wiring a socket is easier, though I would still recommend you get the correct punch-down tool.

I don't want 3 different sockets though in the front room where internet comes in.

If your router has enough Ethernet ports,
three or four different sockets don't have to look bad, if you use euro modules:

Otherwise, if you only want a single socket, you will need an ethernet switch installed elsewhere.

 

[mattylad]

I would not install the router/switch in the living room - that's a lot of cables to deal with in there.
Find an out of the way place as having the big switch and cables can take up a fair amount of space.
On a shelf under the stairs type of thing.

If your stuck with the router in the living room, take a single cable out to a switch elsewhere (as above) for the rest of the house.

As for cables, run the best you can get, so you future proof for higher speeds.
Try pass through connectors - I find them way easier to get the wire in the right position.
Also run more cables than you think you need, in the bedrooms I have run at least 2 else you need to use a switch in them when people start plugging multiple devices in.

Don't forget the kitchen, the washing machine needs to talk to the world
Also the loft, you may want to put a CCTV setup hidden away up there.

Don't pull the cables tight when terminating, leave enough slack to completely redo the ends at some time in the future.
GeT a tester, cheap ones can be obtained for under a tenner - saves a lot of hassle.

 

[andypotter]

Thanks some great info there, the router is at the entry point in the front room/dining room/my office, so is easily hidden.

 

[andypotter]

I've just found rj45 cable jack's, look way easier to wire

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

I've just found rj45 cable jack's, look way easier to wire

They are, with the correct punchdown tool - same as the one used for telephone sockets.

 

[andypotter]

Think I'll try them I'm not great at fiddly things

 

[DiyNutJob]

Why not go wifi for no wiring? 802.11ac is 433mbs. I have no experience. 32mbs works for me for youtube.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

Why not go wifi for no wiring? 802.11ac is 433mbs. I have no experience. 32mbs works for me for youtube.

Fine if you have few devices, but when lots of devices all try to use the same wifi AP, at the same time. Better to have wired LAN to everything which has a permanent location, then reserve wifi for things which are either limited to wifi only, or which are very portable.

 

[DiyNutJob]

Fine if you have few devices, but when lots of devices all try to use the same wifi AP, at the same time. Better to have wired LAN to everything which has a permanent location, then reserve wifi for things which are either limited to wifi only, or which are very portable.

433mbs allows 10 users to do youtube simultaneously. A special user that needs speed can just go plug in at the hub. Is there really 1gps on broadband? I am sceptical, but I have no experience. My 70mbs vodafone struggles to give me 32mbs.

 

[Diver Fred]

Why not go wifi for no wiring? 802.11ac is 433mbs. I have no experience. 32mbs works for me for youtube.

I'd you live where I do you would know why that is an unbelievably bad idea!!!
next to my router I can access 18 other routers. In the front bed room I can not guarantee maintaining access to to my home Wi-Fi there are so many Wi-Fi signals around. As so many people have the same issue they all have new, range extending routers that doesn't solve the lack of spectrum issues. We live on the edge of a small village, I hate to think what it's like in towns or new housing estates.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

433mbs allows 10 users to do youtube simultaneously. A special user that needs speed can just go plug in at the hub. Is there really 1gps on broadband? I am sceptical, but I have no experience. My 70mbs vodafone struggles to give me 32mbs.

433 is the maximum theoretical throughput, but as more items connect, throughput falls rapidly even ignoring the variability of ability to connect at all. I run three/four wifi access points around my home, even so I still have some things unable to connect. As per Fred - I was an early adopter of wifi, long before others bought into wifi. It worked great back then with no competition, but now with so many neighbours having their own wifi, it becomes much more difficult to connect or get decent speeds.

When doing a broadband speed test, the advice is to always do it via a wired connection and for a very valid reason.

 

[DiyNutJob]

In town, I can see 9 other wifi's on windows. It may not be reporting all. Often they fight to use the same channel. If I use a different channel, I wouldn't have a problem. But, the vodafone scam doesn't allow channel change. I think they throttle by deliberately choosing the congested channels.

 

[DiyNutJob]

When doing a broadband speed test, the advice is to always do it via a wired connection and for a very valid reason.

I would test speed on wifi for real world speed. More advanced the wifi, more channels they have. So, congestion shouldn't be a problem.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

I would test speed on wifi for real world speed. More advanced the wifi, more channels they have. So, congestion shouldn't be a problem.

Er - The UK has 14x 2.3Ghz spread spectrum channels, spread spectrum as in each occupies or spreads itself over a little over four of the 14 channels, so really there are only three and a bit absolute channels to choose from. Things are even more complex in the 5Ghz allocation, but 5Ghz has the disadvantage of being much more range limited - It is only normally of use within one room, the room where the access point is located. Congestion is a very real problem for most people on 2.3Ghz, I can assure you. It can work very well indeed, if you have no near neighbours, but most people live within range of several other peoples wifi.

Including 2.3Ghz and 5Ghz, I can see 6 of my own access points, but I can also see 19 other 2.3Ghz access points - this on my laptop, in my living room on the ground floor. If I take the same laptop up to my first floor, it will see much more competition for the bandwidth.

Using highly directional home made pair of Yagi antennas, a few years ago, I was able to provide a young relative living half a mile away with internet access via 2.3Ghz. I could probably do the same today, simply because 'they went over the top' of all of the other AP's between.

Why would you test your broadband speed, via the limitation of a wireless connection? That is illogical, all you are really testing is the throughput of your wifi, but at one point in time. Even then, you can see massive variations in speed, due to wifi congestion.